Container floor locking mechanism



A ril 21, 1970 1 J. SWEGER CONTAINER FLOOR LOCKING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 18, 196'? A ril 21, 1970 T. .1. SWEGER CONTAINER FLOOR LOCKING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 18. 1967 April 21, 1970 T. J. SWEGER CONTAINER FLOOR LOCKING MECHANISM 4 Shets-Sheet 4 L m 6E United States Patent 3,507,224 CONTAINER FLOOR LOCKING MECHANISM Theodore J. Sweger, Naperville, Ill., assignor to Illinois Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Filed Dec. 18, 1967, Ser. No. 691,313 Int. Cl. B65j 1/22; B60p 7/08 US. Cl. 105366 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE opposite sides of the bayonet member for also entering the opening to locate the container fitting on the housing and limit relative horizontal movement.

Among the objects of this invention are: To provide in a new and improved manner for locking and unlocking a shipping container on the floor of a railway flat car, automotive vehicle or the like; to arrange for swinging the locking mechanism from a position flush with the surface of the floor to an upright position for engaging a bottom container fitting; to provide a bayonet member with outstanding lugs for entering a slot in the bottom wall of the container fitting and for rotating it to a locked position with respect thereto; to lock the bayonet member either in a locked or an unlocked position with respect to the container fitting; and to mount the bayonet member for endwise movement to enter an opening in a top wall'in' its support in the upright position.

' According to this invention a metallic frame member is secured to the under frame of a railway car. It is provided with an apertured top wall that is flush with the surface of the car floor. A metallic housing is hinged to the frame member and, in one position, a floor section is flush with the car floor surface and has depending therefrom a bayonet member. The housing can be swung to overlie the top wall of the frame member with the bayonet member extending upwardly to enter a slot in a hollow bottom container fitting. The bayonet member has outstanding lugs which can be rotated to overlie the bottom wall of the fitting in order to hold the container securely in place on the railway car. Provision is made for locking the bayonet member either in the locked or the unlocked position. The bayonet member is slidable to a limited extent along its vertical axis. In its upright position its lower end projects downwardly into the aperture in the top wall of the frame member.

In the drawings: FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective of the floor of a railway flat car arranged to receive detachably a container for lading. FIG. 2 is a perspective view, at an enlarged scale, of a corner of the container and the hollow bottom container fitting secured thereto. FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the container locking means in retracted position. FIG. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the container locking means in the raised or operative position. FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of the container locking means. FIG. 6 is a sectional view at an enlarged scale taken generally along the line 6-6 of FIG. 5. FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view taken generally along the line 77 of FIG. 5. FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view taken generally along the line 88 of FIG. 7.

In FIG. 1 the reference character 10 designates gen- 3,507,224 Patented Apr. 21, 1970 erally a railway fiat car having a floor 11. It will be understood that the floor 11 can be the floor of an automotive vehicle, a deck of a ship, etc. The floor 11 may be formed of transversely extending floor boards 12 which are suitably secured to frame means 13, FIGS. 4 and 7, which may be formed of longitudinally extending angle members having top flanges 14. Other suitable support means can be employed.

The floor 11 is arranged to receive one or more rec- 0 tangular containers 15 having at each lower corner a hollow bottom container fitting 16 which may be a metallic casting. The bottom container fitting 16 is secured in suitable manner to the container 15 and it has a slot 17 in its bottom wall 18. In order to secure the container 15 15 in place on the floor 11 container locking means, shown generally at 21, are provided. Several container locking means 21 are located in the floor 11 and they are arranged to accommodate one or more containers 15, depending upon the size thereof. It is desirable that 20 the container locking means 21 be so constructed that, when the car :10 is not being employed for transporting containers 15, it can be employed for transporting other lading. Accordingly, the container locking means 21 are so arranged and constructed as to be substantially flush with the top surface of floor 11 except when they are required for cooperation with the container 15 to hold it in place.

In FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings the container locking means 21 is illustrated as including a metallic frame member that is indicated, generally, at 22. It is formed of angle side members 23 which can be welded as indicated in FIGS. 4 and 7 to the frame means 13. The angle side members 23 are spaced apart by transverse reenforcing plates 25 which are suitably secured in place. A top wall 26 overlies a portion of the angle side members 23 and it has an aperture 27 for a purpose that will be apparent presently.

In FIGS. 4, 7 and 8 it will be noted that housing means, shown generally at 30, is secured by double pivot hinge means 31 to the metallic frame member 22. The housing means 30 may be a malleable iron casting and it is provided with a pair of lateral flanges 32 through which a hinge pin 33 extends and through a hinge loop 34 therebetween. The hinge loop 34 forms a part of an elongated metallic hinge member 35 at the ends of which pivot pins'36 are provided in apertured ends 37. The pivot pins 36 extend inwardly from upstanding ends 38 of a *U-shaped metallic hinge strap 39 which is welded as indicated at 40 to the inner sides of the upstanding flanges of the angle side members 23. This construction provides the double pivot hinge means 31 such that the housing means 30 and parts secured thereto can be swung from the upright position shown in FIG. 7 to the broken line position shown here where no part of it extends above the surface of the floor 11.

A metallic floor section 42 in the form of a plate is secured to the housing means 30 and it has an aperture 43 which is in alignment with the aperture 27 when the housing means 30 occupies the upright position shown in FIG. 7. In the retracted position the floor section 42 is flush with the surface of the floor 11. This is shown by broken lines in FIG. 7.

The apertures 27 and 43 are arranged to receive one end 44 of a bayonet member as indicated, generally, at 45. It may be a malleable iron casting and it is provided with a conical head 46 having vertical sides 47 with laterally extending lugs 48. The stem portion of the bayonet member 45 extends through an aperture 49 in the housing means 30 and is rotatable therein about a vertical axis and is endwise slidable along its vertical axis through a limited extent. The conical head 46 and laterally extending lugs 48 are shaped such that they can be inserted read= ily through the slot 17 in the hollow bottom container fitting 16 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 7.

In order to rotate the bayonet member 45 about its vertical axis a handle 52 is provided. The handle 52 at one end has furcations 53 which are positioned on opposite sides of the stem of the bayonet member 45. A hinge pin 54 extends therethrough in order to permit limited swinging movement of the handle 52 about a horizontal axis. The handle 52 is arranged to be swung between angularly spaced walls 55 and 56 which are formed integrally with the housing means 30'. These walls 55 and 56 are provided with T-shaped slots 57 for receiving detents 58 and 59 which extend from opposite sides of the handle 52 near its distal end. The detents 58 and 59 have integral head portions 60 which are arranged to extend through the heads of the T-shaped slots 57 and then on downward swinging movement of the handle 52 to overlie the stem portion of the respective slot 57 for locking the handle 52 and thereby the bayonet member 45 in either the locked position where the laterally extending lugs 48 overlie the upper side of the bottom wall 18 of the container fitting 16 or in a position at right angles thereto where the bayonet member 45 has been rotated to such position that the lugs 48 are in alignment with the slot 17 to permit application or removal of the container 15 to or from the floor 11.

An arcuate slot 61 is formed in the distal edge of the floor section 42 to facilitate picking it up for swinging the housing means 30 to or from the operative position.

When the housing means 30 is swung to the operative position shown by full lines in FIG. 7, the bayonet member 45 moves downwardly along its vertical axis under the influence of gravity and the lower end 44 projects downwardly through the aperture 27 in the top wall 26. This places the lower end 44 of the bayonet member 45 in shear with respect to forces transmitted between the container 15 and the floor 11 and thus adequate provision is made for resisting lateral movement of the container 15 with respect to the floor 11 during acceleration or deceleration of the car 10.

When the housing means 30 is shifted to the inoperative position shown by broken lines in FIG. 7, the end 44 of the bayonet member 45 is moved downwardly so that it is flush with the upper surface of the floor section 42 in this position. Here the bayonet member 45 depends from the housing means 30 and does not in any way interfere with the surface of the floor 11 or the positioning thereon of lading.

A portion of the downward force exerted by the container 15 is transmitted through the container fitting 16 to the housing means 30. The under surface 62, FIG. 7, of the container fitting 16 engages planar surface 63 of the housing means 30. To assist in properly locating the container fitting 16 on the housing means 30, the latter 4 has bosses 64, FIG. 4, cast integrally therewith. The bosses 64 underlie the lugs 48 in the unlocked position here shown and are arranged to enter the slot 17 in the container fitting 16 when the container 15 is lowered to transport position on the car 10.

What is claimed as new is:

1. Container locking means for the floor of a railway flat car or the like having frame means, said container locking means being arranged to secure to said floor one or more containers each having at least one hollow bottom container fitting with a slot in its bottom wall, said container locking means comprising:

a frame member adapted to be secured to said frame means and having an apertured to wall flush with the surface of said floor, housing means hinged to said frame member and swingable from a stored position flush with said surface of said floor to an operating position overlying said apertured top wall,

bayonet means rotatably mounted on said housing means having a locking head with outstanding lug means for entering said slot in said container bottom fitting,

said bayonet means being slidably mounted on said housing means and in said stored position of said housing depending therefrom .and in said operating position extending into said aperture in said top wall of said frame means,

means for rotating said bayonet means to move said lug means into and out of overlying relation with said bottom wall of said bottom container fitting,

said housing means having a planar surface on which the bottom surface of said bottom wall of said container fitting is adapted to rest, and

bosses integral with said housing means and extending upwardly from said planar surface on opposite sides of said bayonet means for entering said slot in said bottom wall of said container fitting to locate said container fitting on said housing means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,071,355 2/1957 Norbom l05-366 3,129,672 4/1964 Gutridge et al. -366 3,159,111 12/1964 Gutridge et al 105--366 3,307,496 3/1967 Sweger 105-366 3,391,654- 7/1968 Grob et a1 105-366 3,417,712 12/1968 Pulcrano et al. 105366 3,437,055 4/ 1969 Wille et al 105-366 DRAYTON E. HOFFMAN, Primary Examiner US. (:1. X.R. 

